212 – ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Azdi told us: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from Ḥuṣayn, from al-Shaʿbī, who said:

Two men came to Shurayḥ. One of them said, “I bought a house from this man and, inside it, I discovered ten thousand dirhams.” Shurayḥ replied, “Then take them.” The buyer said, “Why should I? I only purchased the house.” The seller responded, “You take them.” The buyer answered, “Why, when I sold him the house along with everything it contained?”

They kept passing the matter back and forth between them, each refusing to accept the money. So they went to Ziyād and informed him. He remarked, “I never thought anyone like this still existed!” Then he said to Shurayḥ, “Go into the Bayt al-Māl (public treasury) and drop a handful into every sack so that it becomes property of the Muslims.” After that he asked al-Shaʿbī, “What do you think of this ruling?” Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh added, “He was pleased with what Ziyād had done.”